Friday, June 27, 2008

The Year of the Buyout...

Three more buyouts today, in what has been a buyout period that nobody has expected. Biggish name players are being added to what started as a weak free agent pool. This makes for a much more exciting July 1st.

We'll start with Todd Bertuzzi who is on waivers and who could be claimed before tomorrow. If he clears, which is very likely, Bertuzzi will be bought out by the ducks. This will cost the team 1.33 million a season for the next two years. A lot of chatter today about the Canucks thinking about picking big bert back up.

Shawn Bates is going to be bought out as well. The veteran struggled with injuries last season and only played two games. Bates has only played 50 games in the last two years, so it's unlikely anyone will be in a rush to pick this guy up. Bates will cost the team just 400,000 a season over the next two seasons.

Finally, Andrew Raycroft is being bought out by the Leafs. I'm surprised by this, as all indications were that Raycroft would be burried in the Marlies, or placed on re-entry waivers. Apparently Fletcher just wants him gone. Raycroft will cost the team about 750,000 a season for the next two seasons.

Toronto Sun is reporting that Leafs may have interest in Sean Avery. I'd love to see this guy in Toronto, but it'll be interesting to see if the Leafs are interested in bringing his attitude in, especially after dumping players like Tucker.

Brenden Morrison to washington is a really hot rumour right now.

Kristain Huselius will not be back with the Flames it seems. Ottawa, Chicago and Vancouver are early teams I'm hearing.

As this has been the year of the buyout, it could also be the year of the offersheet In the next day or two I will be posting a lift of RFAs, and which ones you can expect to recieve offer sheets, and who may be offering them.